Girls Night Out

I have a great group of girls who I am blessed to be friends with.... and we always go out to celebrate birthdays.... so last night, four of us headed out to eat and then met three other friends back at a friends house for a rockin night of RockBand! Oh so fun. I had the chance to sing Bon Jovi Dead or Alive and my favorite..... Metallica Enter Sandman. OH MY WORD. I had a blast and became a person who I am usually not. Headbanging and all. We were laughing so hard.... oh what a great night. Bad news is..... all the pics are up on facebook today. YIKES! It is a scary sight.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

* Christmas is about two months away........ CAN'T WAIT.

* I miss my family more than usual this time of year.

* I am down 11 pounds and am realizing that the days to come are going to be challenging...... baking, cookies, fudge..... you get my point.

* I feel extremely blessed and never want to go a day without thanking God for that..... Even when things are awful, they could be worse. Hell is worse.

* I am a sucker for holiday inspired coffee creamers.... gingerbread, eggnog, peppermint mocha. We go through them like toilet paper around this house this time of year.

* I have been thinking about another baby.... before you freak out...... Joel and I talk about it, tease about it, and that is as far as it gets. I really think we are done, but I am pretty sure I will regret, in future years, not having a third. Sounds so crazy.... you might be thinking, if you know you are going to regret it, why not have one?...... seems to not be that easy because the
thought of having another also makes me want to cry... diapers again.... UGH.

* the thought of swine flu really does make me think of pigs... I know they are not related whatsoever... but still.

* the leaves outside my windows are GORGEOUS.

* I drink way too much coffee.

* Thanksgiving is coming soon- wonder if I will have any visitors?

Annual Trader Joe's Party

This last weekend, Joel and I headed up to Michigan for our TJ's party. We arrived at the hotel- just in time to get ready for dinner. Dinner was good: started off with lobster bisque soup, a salad, and then I had macadamia nut crusted fish and Joel had steak. Dessert was sorbet and chocolate lava cake. Then the entertainment began.... by the Spazmatics! They were dressed up like nerds with fanny packs and all! They played 80's music- Journey and all kinds of stuff! Totally entertaining! We ended up taking our time the next day. Stopped and had lunch, visited a Michigan Trader Joe's, and stopped for coffee. Good to get away. Good to have a night away from the kids.

Pumpkin Carving

I always carved pumpkins with my family out at my grandma Betty's house...... so I have many great memories of carving pumpkins. The girls had fun... but I did most of the work. Nevaeh helped get the guts out- Jesslyn wanted no part of it. I actually think that Jesslyn's favorite part was roasting and eating the seeds. I guess I don't blame her.

Helicopters have been flying over our house today. I said to the girls " I wonder why there are so many helicopters flying over the house today." Jesslyn said, "It is probably helicopter day today." I love that answer. So simple. Makes me smile.

I will be finishing up my last podcast in Genesis today. Looking forward to getting into anther series.

I also just finished up my new John Piper book titled The Power of Words and the Wonder of God. Good read, particularly chapter 4 by Mark Driscoll. He wrote about the controversial words Jesus spoke..... for example:
"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion." Proverbs 11:22

"Sometimes, God's rebuke is incredibly graphic. This is because bad things (like whoring) need bad words (like whoring) and not good words (like partner); otherwise people get confused, especially dumb sheep.' (p. 85)

I love this. I think we have become too influenced by our society of "keeping nice" and not wanting to offend. I also love that this is the chapter that they gave to Driscoll to write. Completely fitting.

October is more than halfway over

I can hardly believe how quickly time is flying. Nevaeh is ready to put the Christmas tree up. (so am I... but Joel won't go for that.) I took the kids to the children's theatre today. We do this four times every year and it is fantastic. We saw Beauty and the Beast today. It is always fun heading into the city with my kids. Makes me laugh.
We came home and carved pumpkins. Tons of fun although most of the work is done by me. It makes me think of my grandma Betty... we always used to carve with her out at her house. Every year. She loved it. Makes me miss her a lot.
Pictures will be posted later.
I am still listening to the Genesis series by Mark Driscoll. I have two podcasts left and then I can move on to more of his fabulous teachings.

Still listening to Genesis series. WOW.... what a bunch of dysfunctional people..... I love it. It proves that people have been wacked out for a long time.... we are truly nothing, without HIM.